College Football Betting News and Notes Monday, September 2

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Head-to-Head Series History
There were no past matchups in this series during this time period.

FLORIDA STATE vs. PITTSBURGHThe total has gone UNDER in 7 of Florida State's last 9 games on the road
Florida State is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games on the road
Pittsburgh is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home

Florida State at PittsburghFlorida State: Seminoles were 0-5 ATS as a road favorite last year
Pittsburgh: Panthers 6-2 ATS as a home dog last five seasons

Re: College Football Betting News and Notes Monday, September 2

FSU at Pitt: What Bettors Need to KnowBy Covers.com

Florida State Seminoles at Pittsburgh Panthers (+10, 49.5)

Florida State is steadily working its way back to perennial contender status and begins the 2013 campaign ranked No. 12 despite losing three first-round NFL draft picks and a slew of other contributors. The Seminoles begin their defense of the ACC Championship by visiting Pittsburgh Monday. The Panthers are making their ACC debut after coming over from the remains of the Big East.

Quarterback EJ Manuel and defensive end Bjoern Werner are the two biggest losses on either side of the ball for Florida State, which has named redshirt freshman Jameis Winston the new starting quarterback after a strong spring. The Seminoles will ease Winston into the job with an experienced offensive line and a running game led by juniors Devonta Freeman and James Wilder Jr. Pittsburgh is breaking in its own new quarterback, though senior Tom Savage does have some experience.

Savage was a two-year starter at Rutgers before a pair of transfers stalled his career. The Springfield, Penn., native threw for 2,732 yards and 16 touchdowns at Rutgers in 2009 and 2010 and will be dealing with two first-year starters on the offensive line when he makes his Panthers' debut on Monday. Pittsburgh got rolling at the end of the 2012 season, going 4-2 in its last six regular season games, and returns eight starters from a standout defense.

Key betting stat: The under is 7-2 in the Seminoles last nine road games.

Weather watch: Forecasts in Pittsburgh are calling for a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms for this game. Temperatures will be in the low-70s

Florida State hasn’t had an elite quarterback since Chris Weinke won the Heisman Trophy and led the 2000 team to the BCS Championship Game. Chris Rix and E.J. Manuel may rank second and third, respectively, in career passing yards at FSU, but they failed to lead the Seminoles to any accomplishments of merit compared to teams of the 1980s and ‘90s.

That’s right, this space isn’t passing out any love notes to Manuel for leading FSU to an ACC title last season. And why would we? The ‘Noles may have won 12 games last year, but they only faced two ranked teams, beating one (Clemson at home) and losing to another (at home to arch-rival Florida by double digits), and barely knocked off a seven-loss Ga. Tech team (21-15) to win the conference.

But for the first time in more than a decade, FSU may have found its man in redshirt freshman QB ‘Famous’ Jameis Winston. He hasn’t even taken his first collegiate snap yet has already been compared to Charlie Ward.

There’s zero doubt that Winston has a strong arm, which was on full display while throwing heaters from the mound for the FSU baseball team this past spring. There’s no question about his speed, either, which dazzled MLB scouts while running the bases for the ‘Noles.

Can Winston live up to the hype? We’ll start to get an idea Monday night when Pittsburgh plays host to FSU at Heinz Field. ESPN will have the telecast at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

As of early Sunday night, most betting shops had FSU installed as a 10-point favorite with a total of 49. Gamblers can take Pitt to win outright for a +320 payout (risk $100 to win $320). For first-half wagers, the ‘Noles are favored by six with a total of 24.5.

Jimbo Fisher’s team finished 2012 with a 12-2 straight-up record, but it limped to a 5-8 against-the-spread mark. FSU returns seven starters on offense and four on defense.

FSU was expected to have one of the nation’s best and deepest group of wide receivers. However, that depth has taken a major hit over the last month. Greg Dent (27 catches, 355 yards & 2 TDs in 2012) has been suspended indefinitely, while Jarred Haggins and Willie Haulstead have been lost to season-ending injuries.

Junior Rashad Greene remains healthy, though, and appears poised for a monster campaign. As a sophomore, Greene hauled in a team-high 57 receptions for 741 yards and six touchdowns. He is probably the ACC’s third-best WR behind only Sammy Watkins and Maryland’s Stefon Diggs.

FSU had a salty defense last season that gave up only 14.7 points per game, but seven starters are gone and, perhaps most important, defensive coordinator Mark Stoops left to become the head coach at Kentucky. The new DC is former Alabama defensive backs coach Mark Pruitt, who is just the third man to hold this post at FSU in the last 28 years.

Pittsburgh will be making its ACC debut after going 6-7 SU and 8-5 ATS in its farewell season in the Big East. The Panthers bring back five starters on offense and eight on defense for Paul Chryst’s second year in the Steel City.

Pitt suffered a pair of costly losses with the departures of two of the school’s all-time best in QB Tino Sunseri and RB Ray Graham. Sunseri had a banner senior season, completing 65.1 percent of his passes for 3,288 yards with an outstanding 21/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Sunseri finished his career ranked third in school history with 8,590 passing yards.

Graham had 11 rushing TDs in 2012 and completed his career behind only Tony Dorsett in career rushing yards with 3,271.

Tom Savage will take over under center for Sunseri after sitting out the last two seasons. Savage was considered one of the biggest recruits in Rutgers history when he signed with the school in 2009. As a true freshman, he had a 14/7 TD-INT ratio for the Scarlet Knights.

But Savage lost his starting job as a sophomore and decided to transfer to Arizona. Then he didn’t like it in Tucson and elected to come to Pitt where he has only one year of eligibility.

Savage’s favorite target will be WR Devin Street, who garnered second-team All Big East honors after making 73 catches for 975 yards and five TDs in 2012. RB Isaac Bennett will replace Graham and he has been upgraded to ‘probable’ after missing some practice time with a knee injury. Since 2008, Pitt owns a 6-2 spread record in eight games as a home underdog. During Fisher’s tenure in Tallahassee, FSU has compiled a 5-7 spread record as a road favorite. The ‘Noles went 0-5 ATS in road ‘chalk’ situations last season.

Re: College Football Betting News and Notes Monday, September 2

NCAAF Week 1

Pitt's ACC debut is a primetime home game with Florida State, which was 0-5 as a road favorite LY; since 2005, they're 10-15 when favored on foreign soil. Seminoles are breaking in new QB and lost seven starters on defense, so they'll lean heavily on OL with four starters back (96 career starts). Pitt has senior QB (15 starts) but only one senior starter on OL (60 starts); Panthers covered six of last eight tries as a home dog and are 28-14 vs spread in last 42 conference games (albeit in a different league). FSU is just 30-45 vs spread in its last 75 ACC games.

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